Acer Plans to Become World's Largest PC Maker by End of 2011.

Acer Group, currently the world's second largest maker of personal computers, wants to become the No. 1 supplier of PCs already by the end of 2011 and leave behind its rival Hewlett-Packard. One thing that Acer needs to take the lead is high demand for mobile computers, something that is expected.

"If the mobile world continues to grow, we will necessarily replace HP as the world's biggest computer-maker," CEO Gianfranco Lanci told the SonntagsZeitung in an interview, reports Reuters news-agency.

According to data from IDC, in Q3 2010 Acer commanded 13.0% of the market, whereas a year ago its share was 13.5%. HP, on the other hand, shipped 17.6% of PCs during the third quarter, which was 2% lower compared to its market share in the same period last year.

The analysts from IDC believe that Acer grew slightly slower than the market – primarily a result of strong year-ago performance. This was most evident in the United States and Japan, which saw the slowest growth. Meanwhile, Acer continued to make rapid gains in emerging markets. But unlike HP, which shipped the same amount of PCs in Q3 2010 and Q3 2009, Acer boosted its units shipments by 7% year over year.

Even though the gap between Acer and HP is getting smaller, it remains to be seen whether the company will be able to close it in one year without making costly acquisitions of smaller rivals.